“The Governor gave a good speech tonight. But it did little to hide the fact that he is failing miserably on the most important issue we are facing: job creation.

Under Governor Walker’s watch our state has fallen to 42nd in the nation for job creation. Only eight states are doing worse than Wisconsin and all of our neighbors are doing better.

Two years into his term we have seen less than 38,000 jobs created and that compares to the more than 30,000 jobs created during Governor Doyle’s last year in office alone and it leaves him 212,000 jobs short of his promise to create 250,000 jobs by 2015.

If he is sincere about working together and including all Wisconsin citizens in the dialogue instead of his continuing pattern of holding listening sessions by invitation only then perhaps he will have the opportunity to make good on his pledge.

But if his rhetoric is merely cover for continuing an agenda that favors the wealthy and corporations at the expense of our public education system, health care and community services then our state will continue to falter and our families will pay the price for it.”

The 2013-2014 WI legislative session has begun. On January 10, the Assembly met and passed just 3 new pieces of legislation and 2 of them had to do with new rules applying to their body, including the Gallery.

This was done for a number of reasons, the most important one - to make it harder for constituents to observe their lawmakers in action.

MADISON – Today marks the 40th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion and granted constitutional protection to a woman’s right to make her own reproductive health decisions. Rep. Chris Taylor released the following statement on the anniversary and the current struggle to keep reproductive health care affordable and accessible:

“On the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we honor the health care providers, staff, advocates and activists who have committed their lives to providing essential reproductive health services to women and the advocacy to make sure these services continue to be available. When abortion services are illegal and unavailable, women die and maternal health is severely compromised.

“But on this 40th anniversary of Roe, opponents of safe, legal abortion services and birth control are diligently working to roll back access to these services and the choices women have over their lives. Though Governor Walker insists that jobs and the economy are his focus (Wisconsin’s bottom of the barrel job creation record under his leadership should compel such attention), his administration has ushered in unprecedented cuts to family planning services, comprehensive sex education and abortion services. Governor Walker, who opposes all legal abortions, including for rape and incest victims as well as birth control, has proclaimed today ‘Protect Life Day’ in Wisconsin. Governor Walker and opponents of reproductive health care don’t understand that access to these services are essential to women and their families and the choices they make in their lives.

“Today, we should not only celebrate a court ruling that gives women the right to make their most personal and private decisions, but we should also pledge our steadfast opposition to those who are trying to dial back the clock on women’s rights.”

Madison -- Belligerent Wisconsin Senator Glenn Grothman is again in the headlines, after an interview on a conservative “Christian” talk show. Grothman, infamous for his extreme stance on abortion, told talk show host Jim Schneider of “Voice of Christian Your America” that Planned Parenthood is “the most racist organization” in the nation. The Senator continued by saying Planned Parenthood has a tradition of “not liking people who are not white”

Grothman did not stop there; as he continued to frame the organization as targeting the Asian-American community for "sex-selective abortions," the contentious Wisconsin Senator has a history of his own when it comes to racism and “sex-selective” and “racially charged” remarks. Just recently, the white conservative Christian attacked Kwanzaa, calling it a holiday that "almost no black people today care about.” Grothman characterized Kwanzaa as a false holiday conjured up by a racist college professor and perpetuated by hard-core liberals.

Just last year, Grothman introduced SB507 which would require the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board to emphasize that non-marital parenthood is a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect. By all appearances, Glenn Grothman has been selected by Wisconsin Republicans to carry out an act of political genocide on behalf of groups like Right to Life and Wisconsin Family Action.

It is those two groups who have seen a vast amount of support and favoritism thrown their way by elected Republican officials in Wisconsin. The WisGop agenda is clear and that is to put pro-choice, as well as the LGBT communities, into the dust bins of Wisconsin history through legislation and proclamation.

The irony of Grothman’s remarks is that he is a single middle-aged white male who is rumored to be still living in the basement of his mother’s home.

Madison – On Friday, Wisconsin Republicans passed Senate Bill 2, otherwise known as SB2, in the Judiciary and Labor Committee. The bill would allow for almost immediate implementation of any legislation, thus bypassing the state’s long standing tradition of a 10 day waiting period.

Currently, when a bill is enacted, the bill is sent to the Secretary of State, who sets a date of publication that must be within ten working days of the date of enactment. No later than the next working day of sending the legislation to the Secretary of State, the secretary then notifies the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) of the date of publication, (Within ten days) and are required to be printed.

The standard offers both the citizens of Wisconsin as well as legislators a window of opportunity to not only review the legislation but amend it before a bell cannot be un-rung. The process also serves as a check and balance arm to the state government and is a necessary tool to ensure openness and transparency.

The most notable instance of this process was used in March 2011 with Act 10. At the time, Scott Walker asked Secretary Doug La Follette to publish the act the following Monday in which La Follette replied that he thought it would be a good idea for the citizens of Wisconsin to review the legislation because of the direct and immediate effect it would have on them.

If it were not for La Follette’s decision, Wisconsinites would have witnessed a Blitzkrieg enactment of legislation by Walker and lockstep Republicans. Instead citizens were given a chance to see what Republicans had in store for them and ended rising up against the legislation in historic fashion. It is this checks and balance which Republican’s wish to do away with, hoping by the time citizens understand the legislation, it will be too late to do anything about it.

Madison – In 2011, state Republican lawmakers hatched a plan to help them preserve their majorities in both the Assembly and the Senate by redistricting the state. The act of drawing new lines is not a new phenomenon, but the circumstances in which these new lines were drawn have come under heavy scrutiny by both the public as well as the court system.

Secrecy Agreements

As legislative leaders secretly developed new election maps in 2011 to strengthen their majority, Republican lawmakers were told to ignore public comments and instead focus on what was said in private meetings, according to a GOP memo that became public in February 2012. Other released documents also show almost all Republican lawmakers signed legal agreements promising not to discuss the new maps while they were being developed.

During the court battle that ensued, Republicans fought tooth and nail to prevent the release of the documents, as well as testifying about the maps. Eventually they capitulated after a panel of three federal judges based in Milwaukee found they had filed frivolous motions in trying to shield the information from the public.

The move came a week after a panel of three federal judges ordered that two sides and the state quickly resolve their differences. The groups sued the state in 2011 over election maps drawn by Republicans, but for months the case has focused on documents that were improperly withheld from the plaintiffs. For five months, the plaintiffs have been seeking to forensically search computers used for redistricting to find out why they did not receive documents that were supposed to be turned over to them and to learn if any other records were improperly withheld. So far, they have not been able to learn where the state computers are located, let alone search them. Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) said he was appalled that the state had not disclosed to the plaintiffs where the computers are.

The computers in question were state-owned systems set up in the offices of Michael Best, the law firm across the street from the Capitol. Republicans found this arrangement advantageous since the computers were not connected to the state system, so open records requests are hard to fulfill and apparently computers even harder to find.

"If Scott Walker's Republicans have done nothing illegal, they should have no problem producing the missing computers immediately. Their redistricting efforts have already been found illegal and now it appears they are going to ground to avoid accountability. From Scott Walker to Paul Ryan to Robin Vos, we have seen a pattern where the Republicans are a law unto themselves, willing to compromise 100 years of Wisconsin's faith in good government," Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Monday.

MADISON – Yesterday, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin announced as a result of state funding cuts in Governor Walker’s last budget, they are closing the doors of their clinics in Shawano, Chippewa Falls, Johnson Creek, and Beaver Dam. The closure will eliminate critical services to 2,000 patients including lifesaving cancer screenings, breast exams, birth control, annual exams, pregnancy tests, STD testing and treatment, HIV screening, and referrals to a network of community resources.

In all four communities, Planned Parenthood is the only reproductive health care provider for low-income women. Below is Rep. Chris Taylor’s (D-Madison) statement on the closings:

“Today’s announcement by Planned Parenthood just proves that the effects of Governor Walker’s last budget are just now being felt. In the end, Governor Walker chose to hurt the health needs of Wisconsin women in favor of advancing his extreme agenda against birth control and reproductive health care.

“The closing of these four clinics isn’t a ‘win’ for the pro-life community; it’s a loss to women who relied on those clinics for lifesaving cervical and breast cancer screenings, safe family planning services and other health care needs. As a result, there will be women whose health and lives are threatened.

“Governor Walker’s war on women became a reality for thousands of women across Wisconsin today. I call on my colleagues in the Legislature to recognize women’s health isn’t a partisan issue and to restore state funding for Planned Parenthood’s family planning program back in this budget.”